Cyanogenic glucosides: the biosynthetic pathway and the enzyme system involved.

In vitro studies with a microsomal system obtained from etiolated sorghum seedlings have indicated a biosynthetic pathway for cyanogenic glucosides involving amino acids, N-hydroxyamino acids, aldoximes, nitriles and cyanohydrins. NADPH is an essential cofactor. Simultaneous measurements of tyrosine metabolism and oxygen consumption show that three molecules of oxygen are consumed for each molecule of p-hydroxymandelonitrile produced. This indicates the operation of three monooxygenases in the pathway and implies the involvement of one hitherto undetected intermediate in the pathway. The nature of this intermediate is unknown. Gel filtration and sucrose gradient centrifugation of the microsomal system resulted in a more than tenfold increase in specific activity. Attempts to further purify the system did not produce preparations of higher specific activity because of a simultaneous partial loss of essential components as demonstrated by reconstitution experiments.